Derivation of the botanical name:
Lathyrus, Greek lathyros, an old name for pea.
aphaca, a city of Mount Lebanon, celebrated for a temple of Venus, situated between Byblus and Heliopolis or Baalbec.
Aphaca is mentioned by Theophrastus, (Hist.Pl.I.viii.c.I); Pliny speaks of Aphaca as a wild plant (I.xxi.c.13); he also uses the words 'Amara aphace, (c.17).
vulgaris, common.
segetum, of the corn field(s).

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.